I posted over in the remodeling portion of the forum and haven't had any responses. I decided to post here and see if anyone who works in the business can provide a little advice.

Fireplace1.png (43.17 KiB) Viewed 719 times

Below I am placing a before rough mock up of our fireplace which is in our living room. To the bottom of the photo is our living room, to the top is the kitchen. The fireplace, itsself, is actually on the kitchen side of the double wide. However, there is a "column" which is to the left of the fireplace that is on the living room half of the home. I have been told that it was most likely there as support during transportation.

Fireplace1.png (43.17 KiB) Viewed 719 times

Below I have done a drawing of how I would like to restructure the space to make it nearly symmetric or at least make it look closer to being intentional so it does not look off.

Fireplace2.png (10.7 KiB) Viewed 719 times

The cubby that is on the right side now has been nothing more than a catch-all for junk and is a real eye sore because with the column on one side and the cubby on the other, it just looks BAD. What I was wanting to do was basically extend the walls on either side of the fireplace and on the outside across the marriage line to create a fairly even look. Inside these "walls" I was going to create a built-in look with shelving. The right side of the fireplace would become an alcove for the upright freezer with a cleaning closet in the end that will have a door to match my kitchen cabinetry.

I am aware of the problems and the no-no's of removing marriage line walls. However, I was hoping to find out if extending the walls across the marriage line would provide more support than the 8"x6" column that is there now (in my mind it seems that it would anyway). We own the home and land so the house will most likely never need to be moved anyway. We considered purchasing a new home instead of trying to fix all the problems with our current home, but found that the terms were ridiculous. So we decided that if we were going to have to fix everything, and yes I mean everything from the subfloors to the roof, windows, and doors, then we were going to make our home work for our family and just put that 20K into our house and pay it off in 8 yrs. Since the home will be brand new by the time we are done with it, there is no need to worry about ever having to move it. It should last us as long as we need it to.

Input is appreciated. Ideas would be more than welcome as well. Thanks and God Bless!!

Seeing as how I had so many views but no replies, I thought I would come back and answer my own question just in case anyone else was coming into the same issues. I actually scoured the dealerships in my area (+60 miles) to find someone willing to answer my questions who actually knew about and had experience in the building and logistics of double wide homes. Hope this helps someone on the boards.

The fireplace box, once everything is torn out and prepped to redo it, can be sat onto a wooden box built from 2x4s (or 6s depending on the height I wanted to raise it). Because of its construction (and it is already sitting on wood anyway) it will not hurt anything and I do not have to use something special to prevent it catching the house on fire.

There is a pipe under it that allows for the updraft of the smoke that is located under the firebox. Since I am already counting on having to replace our chimney, this will not be a problem for me to make sure that it is put back in place. I did forget the technical term the guy I talked to called it, but he said it was the same stuff the chimney is made of.

***And just in case anyone else here is having trouble with the facade in their wood burning fireplace chipping or being damaged, there are different places out there that will cut and sell you the pieces to insert into your fireplace to replace the damaged material.

Now for the second topic I was asking about: the "roof support" off to the left of the fireplace that sticks out like a sore thumb. I was told that if it was just the fir strips and a couple 2x3s then it was probably only there to support during transportation. Since I was wanting to build back built-in cabinetry on each side of the fireplace, if we wanted to be on the safe side we could just take 2 2x4s and screw them together and put them up next to the ceiling and let them span the length of the bookcase.

It is the same basic principle as adding a structural beam when removing load bearing walls in a house to make it more open. Since I was going to make the sides of the built-ins appear to be walls, the support beam will lay inside the wall on top of another 2x4. The support its self will be hidden at the top by a panel I intend to use to place lighting inside of that will have a switch located on the wall outside the unit. The only thing we must be careful of is making sure that we are mindful of the marriage line when building our new bookcases. We probably will never move the home, but just in case that need arises, we would rather bust some drywall tape than tear up our built-ins.

So I hope this helps someone. Lord knows I was beating my head off walls to get the info myself. I appreciate all who stopped to see if they could help. Please let me know if this is useful info and ask if you have questions! i am learning tons as we continue to reno our home. I am sure there will be more lessons learned in the future.